A Chicago Tech Startup Hopes to Be the “Uber For Race Photos”

The headquarters of a Chicago-based tech startup trying to turn the race photography industry on its head are usually inside a tiny brick coffee shop on the north side of the city. Though sometimes, cofounder Griffin Kelly admits, the company is operating from his parents’ dining room table.

The company, called FlashFrame, is a small operation with big ambition. Started by three recent college grads—all competitive runners—it aims to provide cheap race photos while helping amateur photographers make some extra cash.

“The easiest way to describe it: it’s the Uber or Lyft for race photos,” Kelly said, inside the very coffee shop where the product has been developed. “We realized: Who wants to pay $30 for a profile picture?”

He is referencing the price of a single-image download on the biggest race photography company in the U.S., MarathonFoto. Kelly and his two colleagues, Nate Robinson, and Declan Murray—an elite runner for Ireland—noticed that most runners use their race photos on social media, exclusively. The trio has figured out a way to reduce that price point by 75 percent, offering race photos at $6.99 a download.

FlashFrame allows anyone with a camera to take pictures along a race route, then upload them to the website. The photos are run through an algorithm, which tracks the bib number of runners, as well as key items like shirt text and color.

After finishing a race, runners can search for their own photos, as they do on traditional sites. The difference? When a runner decides to purchase a picture, the photographer who took it gets a $5 cut.

“It incentivizes people to take better photos,” Robinson said. “People are taking pictures during races anyway, so why not make some money off it?”

After plastering billboards at 12 different bus stops along the Chicago Marathon route, Kelly says nearly 1,000 people signed up to take photos during the race. Almost 200 have uploaded nearly 82,000 pictures to the site since the race took place on Sunday.

“We have been reaching out to amateur photographers around the city to get as many photos as we possibly can,” Murray said.

The company enlisted members of the cross-country team at Northwestern University—Robinson and Kelly are alumni—to hand out business cards to Chicago Marathon finishers at the exit to the postrace party.

The company was founded in 2014, originally planning to manufacture a timing system for high school and college track practices. It has received guidance and funds from the San Francisco-based startup incubator Y Combinator—which has invested in companies like Dropbox and Airbnb. Only in September did FlashFrame pivot to focus on race photography.

FlashFrame’s business model squeezes in the middle of the race photo industry. Most major marathons in the U.S. use MarathonFoto, or one of a few other services that hire photographers themselves and charge runners after the race.

Many races, though, have started providing photos for free. The company Gameface Media works with those races to find corporate sponsors, whose logos appear on the bottom of race photos, so that photos can be free to runners.

FlashFrame has encountered its own snags. The founders have been contacted by a representative from the Chicago Marathon.

“They told us we cannot use their trademark anywhere,” Robinson said. That means on the site after the race, runners will have to select the option “Marathon, Chicago, Illinois.”

Runners will also not see any finish line photos on the site because MarathonFoto has exclusive rights to take pictures at that location. And there may be fewer photo options for runners to choose from, because the site is depending on photographers who might set up and shoot for a limited time or in a select location.

Robinson says they’ve heard from several professional photographers, and some are angered by what FlashFrame is trying to do.

“Yeah, we received a death threat from a photographer over the phone,” Robinson said.

The company is not trying to employ professional photographers used by MarathonFoto and other race photo companies. They are looking for hobbyists with a decent camera and a little business savvy.

And the biggest potential for the startup, according to the founders, is working with small races and cross-country meets. If parents of competitors or enterprising photographers decide to capture a race, they can easily sell those photos through FlashFrame.

“It really acts as a photo marketplace,” Robinson said.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated that a lawyer from the Chicago Marathon contacted FlashFrame. It was a representative from the organization, not a lawyer.

Kit FoxSpecial Projects EditorKit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years.

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